Actually, after reading through it again I would say that I CAN book through the standard method...

1. Please submit a new Hotel request with the correct information on our website. You can either name your own price, or choose an itinerary where the price and the hotel's name are already displayed prior to purchase.

2. If your new request is accepted, please fill out the Service Request Form and we will respond to you via email within 24 hours. Once we confirm your new accepted request meets the requirements, we will refund the entire amount of your cancellation fee minus the change fee (if applicable). If the guidelines are not met, your cancellation fee cannot be refunded.

3. Please remember that you must correct the incorrect information you entered on your previous request to receive a refund of your cancellation fee minus the change fee. You can raise your offer price on your first request to increase your chances of receiving an accepted request. However, if your first new request is not accepted, you may continue to resubmit as many times as you would like (following the above criteria) until you get an accepted request.

I agree with your HOTWIRE comments, however I have been checking daily for 2 weeks now, and for my dates there is only one hotel offered in that area which I believe to be the Hilton Gaslamp, which i'm not keen on, and a 5* which must be the US Grant, however i've bid up to $135 and not been accepted.

Sorry, I should have made my post clearer. I was disappointed with the location of the hotel more than anything else. I understand that is the price you pay for doing it via this route though! Also, the price I bid (Started at $93, I would not have expected to be offered this hotel, seeing as it is available elsewhere for $60 through a standard booking process!)

However....have just been on the phone with customer relations, and have managed to get them to cancel the reservation (minus one night's stay as a fee) which I am happy with.

The only thing now, if anyone can clarify this for me, is that the representative has offered to refund the cancellation fee if I re-book with them again for the same stay (minus a $25 admin fee) Does anyone know if I can book via PRICELINE for a named hotel at standard rate, and still receive the refund of my one night's stay cancellation fee? Or do I have to use name your own price again? The e-mail doesn't make it too clear

Obviously I don't want to try name your own price again as I could end up with the same problem again!